Compiler Unknown Including Photographs Attributed (1 results)

Photo album. This compelling photograph album from the turn of the 19th century contains 41 black and white photographs, all captioned, of the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the final British conflict of Queen Victoria's long reign. Among the photographs is one of the most striking early images of Winston S. Churchill, dating from his time as an itinerant soldier and war correspondent, just before his final battle of the war, return to England, and first election to Parliament. While most of the photographs were taken by J.E.M., there are some attributed to Jan Van Hoepen, and J.E. Middlebrook. Subjects include troop ships and disembarkation, field camps, groups of soldiers, prisoners, river crossings, and, of course, Winston Churchill, among others. Nearly all of the photographs measure approximately 5.5 x 7.5 inches (14 x 19 cm). Condition of the album is only good, but the photographs within are generally very good. The 11 x 8.125 inches (27.9 x 20.6 cm) album is bound in leather, the spine is cracking and fraying, particularly at the heel, the corners bumped and frayed. The pages are toned and spotted, commensurate with the cardstock of which they are made and the passage of time, but the photographs are clean and well-protected. Additionally, laid in are three small, silvered images, each roughly 3.25 x 2.25 inches (8.3 x 5.7 cm), each captioned by hand on the verso. One rather brutal image captures "2 boers killed in action River Poort 18/11/01", another is of soldiers "Entering River Poort" and the third of an encampment at "Warmbaths".In October 1899, the second Boer War erupted between descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British. Along with troops, the conflict drew photographers and reporters. Among them was Winston Churchill, already one of the world's highest paid war correspondents, with the 21st Lancers and an assignment as press correspondent to the Morning Post. Among the most striking photographs in this album, roughly at the center, is one of Churchill, a full-length portrait of him in uniform and slouch hat standing in front of the overturned armored train where he had been captured by the Boers near Chieveley in November 1899. Churchill leans insouciantly on a cane but belies his own casual posture with his countenance, directly regarding the camera with confident intensity. The vintage gelatin silver image, attributed to the Daily News, Durban, is captioned "MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL AFTER HIS ESCAPE FROM THE BOERS REVISITS THE SCENE OF HIS HEROISM THE ARMOURED TRAIN DISASTER BOER WAR 1899-1900". On 15 November 1899, Churchill was captured during a Boer ambush of an armored train. A month later Churchill made a daring and improbable escape, making his way to Durban via Portuguese East Africa with the Boers literally offering reward for his capture "dead or alive". Churchill entered Pretoria on 5 June 1900 with victorious British troops as a Lieutenant in the South African Light Horse. On 11 June Churchill fought at Diamond Hill generally acknowledged as the turning point of the war. It proved to be Churchill's last military engagement until the First World War. By 20 July Churchill was back in England and on 1 October 1900 he was elected to Parliament, partly on the strength of his wartime fame.Also included in the album are two terrific photographs by Dutch photographer Jan Van Hoeplen (1856-1922). One of the Boer forts at Mafeking, and another of "Boers in the trench on Spion Kop" a battle in which Winston Churchill participated. In this Spion Kop image, the scruff and age and fighting resolve of the fighters seems nearly uniform, nearly all of them sighting down their rifles. The notable exception is the face of a young boy, visibly smaller and younger than his comrades, looking away from the frontline and toward the camera instead. It's a terribly humanizing picture, and an anonymous and decidedly unglorifying counterpoint to Churchill's own image in the album.